CASE STUDY
Planti App
End-to-end Android App for plant lovers.
Role
Design Lead (Team 4 Persons)
UX/UI Design
Duration
3 Months
Tools
Figma, Miro, Adobe Creative Suite
Challenges
This is an application that I managed as product manager and design leader. The whole organisation, management of deadlines and budgets, as well as liaison with the client, team management and creation of the design concept was my responsibility.
Planti is the new app, dedicated to all plant lovers in Poland. The client wanted to help the user with plant care, automatically increasing the number of sales in the horticultural sector. The application had to do several important things for the user, such as reminding them to water or fertilise their flowers & plants, allowing them to manage their app calendar and also to use the forum tab, which would translate into increased profits for the client.
The whole application was developed for the Polish market but for the case study I have translated whole app screens & graphics to show you not only the process but the end effect too.
Objectives
- Design the mobile app (Android) that is user-friendly and easy to use with a clean design
- Design a Logo, Style Guide & Design System for the company
DESIGN PROCESS
RESEARCH
Market Research
Competitive analysis
Provisional Persona
User Interview
Persona
STRATEGY
How-Might-We Questions
Product goals
IDEATION
User Flow
Lo-Fi Wireframes
Branding
Hi-Fi Wireframes
PROTOTYPE & TEST
Hi-Fi Prototype
Usability Testing
We utilized and prioritized the key phases of Discovering, Synthesizing, Ideating, Designing, and Implementing.
During the research phase, we spoke with our user demographic to understand their pain points, their needs and goals, and their day-to-day.
During the strategy phase, we compiled our research to identify patterns and innovation opportunities based on the data we gathered during discovery.
During the ideation phase, I sketched out wireframes, designed information architecture, and go to rough drafts of low-fidelity mockups. Then I came to design thema, and spent time converting our low-fidelity designs to high-fidelity by defining a visual language.
During the prototype & test phase, a prototype of our application was developed and used for the first user tests.
RESEARCH
Research Plan
Research enables me to dig deep into my understanding of users – not only their immediate frustrations, but also their hopes, fears, abilities, limitations, reasoning, and goals. It lays essential foundations for creating solutions in later stages.
Research goals
- Understand the market of plant platforms in Poland
- Identify the target audience of Planti
- Get to know how people are managing their plant care
- Uncover people’s experience about plant care
Assumptions
- people have problems with remembering to take care of their plants
- they don’t remember the names of the plants they have
- they often look up information about plants on the internet
- need to exchange information with others
- they want to have lots of plants
Methodologies
- Secondary Research (Market Research, Competitive Analysis, Web surveys)
- Primary Research (User Interview)
Market Research
It is important to get a big picture of the market by starting with market research – to get a sense of what we know and don’t know yet, who the audience are, as well as what the recent trends or news are. The insights gathered from market research will help me frame provisional personas and ask meaningful questions in primary research.
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- a lot of people have a problem finding information about plants
- most people need to be able to share their experience (a lot of them use Facebook, but they are little bit overhelmed)
- by 2020 the market for selling houseplants has grown considerably
- people in Poland have problem with informations about plants in english (want to have more info in polish)
Competitive Research
It is equally important to research enterprises that pioneer in the market of platforms related to plant care in Poland, as their solutions to similar problems will help me gather insights about their strengths and weaknesses. I analyzed 3 direct competitors, who are trying to solve the same problem as us, and 3 indirect competitors, who solve one part of the problem very well.
Provisional Persona
- With the data gathered from market research, I started to generate provisional personas using the statistical knowledge I gained to represent a certain type of user that is potential audience of Planti. These personas will help me screen appropriate people to interview.
Primary Research
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Building on a general understanding of the market and the audience, I continued to dive deeper and build a real connection with our users, to gain direct insights on them by primary research. I created an Interview Guide to facilitate the user interview process, with 12 open-ended questions listed to invite the participants to share their experiences and stories.
In total, 6 participants (2 males and 4 females) were interviewed about their plant care organizing experience (if there is any) in the past, and the needs that the application should meet.
Validated assumptions
- people have problems with remembering to take care of their plants
Validated – 4/6 participants said they have problem with remembering about regular plant care - they don’t remember the names of the plants they have
Non Validated – 3/6 participants have so much plants, that is inpossible remember all plant names - they often look up information about plants on the internet
Validated – all participants looking for informations in internet and they find it complicated and difficult - need to exchange information with others
Validated – 4/6 participants considers it a good opportunity to exchange experience with other users of the application - they want to have lots of plants
Non validated – 2/6 participants want to have more plants
- people have problems with remembering to take care of their plants
User Persona
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Since we have gathered a bunch of knowledge of the audience, as well as their goals and needs, we use the user persona to represent key audience segments. It helps us focus on tackling the most important problems – to address the major needs of the most important user groups. It is both fictional and realistic.
Let’s meet Gaja, a Civil servant in Poland. She loves plants, wants to care them as well as possible, but also to have more of them.
STRATEGY
How Might We Questions
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To define the problem we are going to solve, I create Point-of-View (POV) Statements that allow me to ideate in a goal-oriented manner, and How-Might-We (HMW) Questions to frame the ideation in the brainstorm session for solutions. The statements and questions are generated based on the insights and needs we gathered in Research Phase.
INSIGHT
User often seeks information about plants on the internet.
NEED
User needs more information on plant care.
POV
User should know how to take care of the plant and what requirements to meet in order for it to grow without any problems.
HMW
User should know how to take care of the plant and what requirements to meet in order for it to grow without any problems.
User is not always able to remember the name of the plant.
User needs different forms of plant search in the application.
User should know that at any time he can find a particular plant in the application in any number of ways.
How might we enable the user to search for plants in a variety of ways?
User does not always remember to care for the plant properly.
User needs help in caring for the plant by reminding it of important moments.
User should be able to set what they want to be notified about and how many of these reminders should appear.
How might we create a fully customised way of setting reminders for plant care?
Product Goals
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With HMW questions and brainstormed solutions, we decided to list project goals that will both serve as a guide for the future development of the product and rubrics for determining what features to include in Planti app.
BUSINESS GOALS
Develop the mobile app.
Develop Planti Brand.
Increase sales via Forum tab.
Help people care plants.
Help people find relevant plants.
Help people share experience.
BOTH
Product easy to use.
Product delivered in polish language.
Experience sharing Platform.
USER GOALS
Help you to remember about plant care.
Provide comprehensive information on the plant.
The possibility of deciding on the type and frequency of notification.
IDEATION
User Flow
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This process helps me walk in an individual user’s shoes, and think through different scenarios that this user might encounter. Below is the user flow (orange path) for Gaja when she wants to add new plant to her plant library in app.
Lo-Fi Wireframes
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After creating an UI Requirement Document with a to-do list for designing the key screens identified in the user flow, I started preparing low-fidelity screens.
Styleguide & Design System
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I further developed the visual style of Planti through the style tile. It serves as a synthesizing document of the brand ideas and inspirations gathered, incorporating logo design, color palette, typography, and imagery that guides UI design in our app.
Hi-Fi Wirefames
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Once we had a visual direction of the layout, I started to add more details and precisions to the wireframes by turning them into high-fidelity wireframes. Creating high-fidelity wireframes helps me focus on the visual consistency and hierarchy. In these wireframes, I tried to incorporate common design patterns that have been tested on our competitors’ product, or included elements that directly address users’ goals, needs, frustrations, and motivations. I created whole dokumentations for developers, and client too.
PROTOTYPE & TEST
Prototype
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The prototype was created on the basis of the user path developed in the course of building the product strategy. It is not a full version of the application and does not give the user all the possibilities. Prototype you can check here: PLANTI PROTOTYPE
Usability Testing
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Before usability testing, it is important to set up test objectives, subject, methodology, tasks, and rubrics for measuring the result of the testing before conducting a test. Therefore, I wrote a usability testing plan to define what and why I want to test and get prepared for the test.
For all the tests, I expect a 100% completion rate since all tasks are normal steps for a plant care app. I also expect a 90% error-free rate because the prototype is not fully functioning, and users might take alternatives that have not been built up for completing the tasks.
I then conducted both in-person and remote usability testing with 5 participants, and created transcripts for each participant based on my observation of their interaction with the prototype. I jot down their mistakes, slips, and confusions they expressed in the process. This transcript is a perfect raw material for summarizing the patterns of user’s interaction with the prototype.
FINAL THOUGHTS & NEXT STEPS
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With the final prototype created, I believe we have met the goals that were outlined in the beginning of the design process. We designed a mobile app for Planti that provides different features for plant care. I also designed branding materials that aligns with the value of this service.
If I had more time, I would dive deeper in developing some of those nice-to-have features. These features would add more characteristics to the business and increase the competitiveness.
With Planti app while staying in the UX industry, I also learned full product management, communication between different people in the team and customer contact.
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Since the design has been tested and revised, it is ready to enter the development phase. Updates and revisions will continue to exist in the future.
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